Saturday, December 5, 2009

Why Novelista Barista?

When I was in college, I needed a job.

Coffee shop 1 - I went a couple months without a job and I was bored out of my mind. I walked around Pleasantville trying to find a job and I walked into a Chinese looking restaurant. I found out it was a coffee shop. They offered me the job. I worked there almost everyday. The place was called the Dragonfly Caffe. I will put pictures of it up one day.

That place changed my life. I had the time of my life there. I met so many interesting and inspiring people in my life while working there. My coworkers were like my family. We hung out there everyday. We did everything for each other. It didn't matter what time it was, we were usually hanging out at the store, helping each other out.

I had to stop working there because the owner ended up being crazy, so I went to another coffee shop.

Coffee shop 2- Winston's Coffeehouse. I worked there for a couple of years and I was the one to shut the doors of the business since the owner ran it into the ground and stole all the money from the store. That was the first and hopefully last time I will ever have to shut the doors of a business again.

Coffeeshop 3- Peekskill Coffeehouse. I went to work at my third coffee shop in another town, and I was only there for a week because I got a job with my friends I knew at their coffee shop. This place was nice but it wasnt exactly the coffeeshop atmosphere I was looking for.

Coffeeshop 4- Coffee Labs. The last one I have worked at so far. I loved this place. They were always on top of their store, did everything by the books, roasted their own coffee there, took us to other coffee shops to learn more about coffee. I learned a lot about coffee and fair trade and rain forest alliance from the owners. They taught me a lot of things that I never knew and I am so glad that I got that experience. I wish I never had to pay rent otherwise I would have stayed. Unforunately, the county I live in is mad expensive so I had to find something else, but the experience and the people I met there I wouldn't change for anything.

So you see, I took on novelista barista because everywhere I go I am looking for the independent coffee shops and always wanting to write about it. One day maybe Ill write about places across the country......

I really like the name 'Novelista Barista' - has a great ring to it :) Thanks for sharing the meaning behind it! I'm a big coffee shop fan ;)

My blog name, 'Elsical McGinger' is an elaborate nickname of mine I've had for years, which is a play around my real name.My dad coined the term 'Elsical' when I was about 4 and it has stayed with me all my life. Some friends came up with the McGinger part because of my hair colour.Ta daa :D

The reason I chose Miss Vintage Vixen was because I love Vintage, and at the time (which was like two in the morning) when I started my blog, I was really excited, but also really mad, so I remembered that I had learned that a Vixen was an woman who wants to make a point as soon as possible... and that was just me right there.

But, I sadly can't show you how much I love vintage just yet... only in a few more months I'll show you...

Love this post! I've always wondered about working at a coffee shop but I'm terrified it would ruin coffee for me! :-)

I chose An Extended Vacation because almost two years ago I found myself out of school but not in a full time job. I started this blog when I was utterly lost and had no direction. Slowly, I'm building some direction in life and i wonder if at some point I will need to change the name... Probably not any time soon though since I'm still lost and unemployed once again!

I chose the name Radiogael because I had a radio show for two years (On WLUR in Virginia, and TFM in Dublin) and spent faaaar more time on writing, presenting and producing it than I did the whole law career thing. It is still the thing that I enjoyed most in my life.

Gael is the word for someone who speaks Irish. Not English with an Irish accent as some people think, but Gaeilge, the Irish native language, which we just call Irish. It's something I'm very proud of.

Hence Radiogael.

Also the blog name, pizza box, that comes my love of pontificating (like getting on your soapbox) and abiding passion for pizza.

Jen, such a cool life-experience (except for the corruption and closure) I think it's great that you had this in your life

I love the name of your blog it's perfect! And hard to forget, mine I am still working on I cant seem to find a good one, that I like the one I have now, is the name of a song by one of my favorite bands, and it pretty mush describes what life is..Joy and sorrow and through both we have to come out alive one way or another :)

my name accidentally kle needs two stories told. kle came about on a night of my moaning that my name clare is too short to have a shorter 'nickname' form and a friend who was studying phonetics came up with kle. it stuck and many people still use it to this day, although it doesn't sound very different from clare at all!

i eventually came up with 'accidentally, kle' because of the way things in my life pan out. it just all seems to coincidental sometimes, so random. and yet so perfect. accidentally kle just had a good ring to it, and it too stuck :)

I love coffee. Plain and simple. And I love coffee shops. I always try to look for those non-chain stores where they are roasting beans and the workers actually know a thing about coffee.

I decided on "365 Days of Happiness" because I was super stressed at work, was worried I was going to lose my job, etc., and needed to concentrate on the good things that were happening in life. So, I thought that if I blogged about at least one good thing a day, it would refocus my world. So far it's worked. However, I didn't lose my job and I'm getting married, etc., so it hasn't been too hard to think of good things.

dude...where do you find the time to write so many posts?? i started reading this entry a while ago and got distracted (probably because i was reading it at work) and have just scrolled through eight million pages to get back here.

i'm inspired. but that's not the point.

just wanted to say, i love your passion for coffee and coffee shops. coffee is such a simple pleasure in my life. the boy wants a super coffee machine for the home but i am reluctant because enjoying an 'external' coffee with friends is something i just love.

for the record, camelshoes is a term which reminds me of laughing with three very special people in my life. in naming my blog camelshoes, those people have come to represent all those close to me. camelshoes is also random enough to kind of mean nothing to most people and, for some reason, i like that.

LinkWithin

"Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don't be sorry." -jack kerouac

About Me:

I am a mommy to be (in June!), a newly married army wife, and a 5th grade English teacher in New York City. I am learning everyday about my new life and trying to share the best (and worst) of my experiences along the way. Enjoy!